Anybody Keeping a Marine Betta?
 

One of the first fish we kept many years ago in our 75g reef was a marine betta, Calloplesiops altivelis. It was a very cool fish, but we lost it when an exotic and toxic-when-dead worm-thing died and killed all the larger fish in the tank :(

Anyway, we're thinking of getting another one for our 4' 120g. The only other inhabitants in the tank are a pair of ocellaris clowns (hosting in both our RBTA and GBTA :biggrin: ) and a solarensis wrasse. The rockwork currently in our 120g has lots of caves throughout the rock structure, which is perfect for a marine betta.

I know marine bettas can grow to 8" in length, but our first one grew very slowly over the three years we had it. I'd appreciate any comments, pro and con, about keeping a marine betta in a 4' 120g.

TIA :)

don't they eat inverts?

cool fish golds has one right now if your coming to calgary

Stan aka Reefhawk1 used to have one......BTW haven't seen Stan in a while

Willow,

I read that they eat shrimp and small fish. Don't have shrimp because I think our fairy wrasse eats them too, and our fish aren't small enough for 4"-5" betta to eat.

i have crabs,

Cool! Not going to Calgary any time soon, but I wonder if someone in Calgary might be coming up here? Will help pay for gas for the person who brings the betta up to us :) BTW, do you know how much the betta at Gold's is and if it's in good condition?

I got one for about 6 years, it hasn't grown much.
Doesn't bother anything, mostly comes out for feedings, very shy fish.
I found this to be almost bullet proof fish.
Highly recommended.

Golds are always healthy and in good shape. go to www.cichlids.ca for the number and ask Dennis, or Albert will see this post and chime up

I wouldn't say always . But yes, the majority of the time they are healthy and in good shape.

What fairy wrasse do you have? I kept shrimp alongside fairies in several different situations and never had any issue. Both cleaners and peppermints. Fish were C. cyanopleura, C. lubbocki and C. rubriventralis.

Man I do miss having fairies, they are such wonderful fish. Stupid ritteri... :neutral: (Ok .. what I really mean is "Stupid me for failing to identify a risk and thus failing to take adequate precautions against such fragile fish against such a large anemone with defensive capabilities." :( But I guess I digress...)

Canadbis,

Thanks for the link. Dear husband has Friday off and is now planning to a trip to Calgary :biggrin:

Tony,

Our fairy wrasse is a C. solarensis. I always thought they'd eat shrimp. Maybe I was misinformed. Sorry to hear about your wrasse, though :(